The Novice Emerald: Iron Crystal
Chapter 1: The Ultimate Conclusion "Zack, what happened out there?" The advisor asked bluntly, eyes locked directly onto a mirrored image of a red hedgehog through a glass window framed by a steel playground of city structures and skyscrapers. "I specifically ordered you to abort mission." "I know," Red answered honestly "I heard your orders just fine in the intercom. But because they were retarded orders I chose to ignore them." "Zack," the advisor continued, "This isn't a videogame. You can't just deliberatley disobey orders and expect no consequence." "Even though there won't be any," Red challenged the purple badger, "I know you too well Baird, your not gonna do anything, like you always do, so I did something for you. Your welcome by the way." "You risked your own life, not to mention the lives of your fellow teammates, Blaze, and Rouge who I have reason to assume were selected by you and not me." "That's funny Baird," A sly grin twisted along Red's intrigued face, "Cuz I don't remember you out there; in fact, I only remember me, myself, and I out there. I only heard your voice, and it was telling me to run away like a little bitch." Baird spun in half a circle to face Red. "But you didn't." He declared. "Tell me why that is, Zack. As a matter of fact tell me everything from the beginning to the inevitable conclusion of your failure." "It wasn't a failure!" The crimson hedgehog snapped. "I was doing as instructed, at least for a while I was. I was trailing the target; which by the way wasn't very easy in the middle of the night, and not only because she was disguised in total black but she had a quick way of moving through the darkness, like...like a ninja or something. Before I knew it she was already in the museum with the Chaos Emerald in her hands." "The Novice Emerald." Baird corrected him. "The what now?" "The Novice Emerald was essentially a primitive prototype version of the Master Emerald, crafted in the ancient times by those who worshipped Chaos, therefore making it the first and only of its kind and under such regards it is highly valuable." "Whatever it was, it was shiny, and it belonged to the museum; so I'm still trying to figure out why you told me to, iquote, abort mission." "She was already in posession of the Emerald, there was nothing you could have done at that point." "I could have tried to stop her," Red stated, "so that's what I did instead." "But she was anticipating your arrival, wasn't she?" Baird pointed out. "She kicked the glass jar that she worked so hard getting the Novice Emerald out of to activate the alarm system which automatically secured the doorways with iron gates. No way to escape. But she came prepared I presume." "She had a grappling gun," Red said, almost embarassed, "She shot it through the ceiling window and just like that, she escaped. But I broke through the gates using my super sonic spindash and got back on her trail." "Despite my protests." Baird interrupted. "She made 'you' look like the culprit in this mess; from what I recollect you also destroyed at least twenty guard robots outside." "They were blocking my path!" Red argued, "She was on the rooftops, I was stuck on the ground. I did what I had to to catch her." Red recalled the red and blue flash of police lights wandering across the alleyway walls while he quickly scaled the building-tops using the apartment ladders. The target was a long ways ahead of him but he managed to catch up with her using his super speed. "Hey babe." He remembered himself saying, "If ye give up now maybe we can share a cell together." She probed through, what appared to be a dufflebag strapped firmly around her side, and out of nowhere tossed the Novice Emerald in his direction. In utter surprise, having very little time to react, he instinctively threw out his hands and caught the emerald. The next thing he knew he was on his back, his hands no longer occupied with the emerald. Somehow within that split-second the culprit had snatched the emerald back, tucking it away in the same dufflebag. If it wasn't for the rugged boot mark imprinted on his chest Red would have thought he got hit by a train. quickly he recovered, scrambling back to his feet and launching a powerful swing at her. quickly she side-stepped the attack. She struck him a piercing blow once, twice, below the ribs (paralyzing his breathing) then spun in the air bashing her steel-toe boot against his left shoulder, intended for his head if not for his acid reflexes. After a series of barreling saummersaults from the kick he landed on his feet, with a smoking skid, then propelled himself forward like a rocket. The first strike she rolled away from, but Red came back with a lashing tornado kick that she amazingly managed to block two-handedly, though it wasn't enough defense to keep her from crashing into the concrete surface. Red jolted to deliver the finishing blow that would knock her unconscious while she was down; however, he felt his legs flip up, as if hooked by a jungle trap, when she drove her heel into his right kneecap sending his body hurdling over the roof like a lightless toothpick. His bare fingers found the stone ledge at the last second and soon enough he was dangling for his life over the edge of an apartment complex. Before the target had a chance to either cut his fingers off or knock him over he planted both hands upon the ledge and heaved himself up, ready for round 2. But the target was already gone, she gave him the slip, simply disappeared and he had no way to locate her... Baird smiled. "so not even you, with all your charm, could catch Romanov. You didn't proceed according to plan either. Can you do anything right?" "Look," Red demanded, "The records tell me you've been chasing this Ramendoll-" "Romanov." Baird corrected him. "Whatever. You've been chasing this scum for over a year now. A YEAR BAIRD! Your supposed to be the most elite task force in all of Mobius and yet you can't even catch one bad guy. Clearly your 'plan' isn't really effective." "Do you think we're losing to her on purpose Zack? Believe me when I say we've been trying, but the bitch is always 1, 2, 3 steps ahead of us. we tried sending a whole squad of soldiers after her, only one came back to us...at least not in a body bag. we've tried planting a tracking device on her to pinpoint her location, that led our units into an abandoned underground facility rigged with explosives. We've tried negotiating with her, but she's never around long enough for conversation." "you haven't even seen her long enough to draw an accurate portrait of her." Red said. "I was up against her myself, alone, I fought back and got farther than you ever did at seeing her face-to-face." "Yeah and how'd that work out for you? You lost the fight Zack." Red's gaze flung itself across the narrow corridors of the room. "I didn't lose," he argued softly, "she ran off." "Kind of like all the other girls who meet you." Baird snickered. "Very funny asshole. My point is I tried harder than any of you did." "And yet here you are, in the same place we all found ourselves when we tried to confront Romanov." Red had no comment for this, his fists clecnhed angrily at his sides and he had to tame his every desire to lurch forward and break Baird's jaw. "so what are you gonna do Baird?" Red asked doubtfully. "You gonna lock me up for the rest of my life and throw away the key? So long as you won't be there, I think it'll be okay." "No." baird replied. "That would be too nice. Obviously your not suited for mission success, so your off team until you straighten up." "And when is that, genius?" "I'd say about a month." Baird exclaimed. "Fair enough?" Red turned around and headed for the door. "Why couldn't you just arrest me? It would have spared me this god-awful conversation?" "Lets make it two months!" Baird said just before Red slammed the door shut. "So you got suspended for two months because-?" Natasha asked quite puzzled grabbing a special bottle of ENJ and pouring it into two shot glasses. "I didnt follow the plan, or the orders; yet I was closer to catching that chick than they'll ever dream about." Natasha now sat next to him, the shot glasses being placed on the table in front of them. "Don't stress it Red, your one of the best agents G.U.N has....besides you can still try to track that Ramendoll chick through the M.T.F right?" she asked a little concerned. She found it displeasing to see the hedgehog sad or upset, he was such a great guy... " I guess so, just trying to get my mind off it right now, she is a very skilled fighter." He said. "That reminds me, I got you a free ticket to my club concert tonight!!" She said, her voice almost cracking from the excitement. She searched through her pockets before handing him a ticket. Red smiled a bit before speaking."Natasha, that's really sweet of you..." he said peering at her. "I know, I'm an awesome best friend!" She stated proudly. Red raised his glass halfheartedly. "Here's to being rejects." A tiny smile wandered across Natasha's face, "And lovin every second of it." Their glasses rang as they clashed sides. Performing their usual drinking ritual they locked arms, the ones holding the beverages, and formed an x shape before consumption. Chapter 2: Disco Inferno The club was somewhat isolated from the rest of the city, though it made perfect sense not only because Red could hear the music from all the way outside, but it kept ordinary citizens out of the way. This was a place specifically for partying. disco lights flared through the windows like a lightning storm and he felt the ground quake beneath his feet, like seismic activity, the closer he got to the doorway. Category:Stories